It’s been an arduous year of tasting, tasting and more tasting here at the Good Libations sampling office. All for you, dear readers; and, of course, for my year-end roundup of the top 20 Californian wines of 2015.

I didn’t just sit back and let those beauties come to me, no sir. I hit the road, travelling to almost every wine-growing region between here and Lodi (including Lodi – much less wild and woolly than I’d anticipated). I swirled, sniffed, slurped and spit out God knows how many Cabs and Chardonnays at the International Wine Writers Symposium, an event held in Napa each February that practically guarantees more wine than even the most devoted oenophile could stand.

So I’ve tasted and traveled enough to give a reasonable assessment, at least when it comes to wines from our fair state. I’m happy to report that this was a very good release year for most of California’s wine-producing regions. Many 2013 reds hit the market over the last few months, and it’s proving to be the phenomenal vintage many suspected it would be – especially the wines of the Central Coast, but those of Napa and Sonoma as well.

I’ve broken my choices into four categories to spread the love around. I don’t play favorites – I love all my grapes equally. And it’s too hard to rank them; I’ve listed each category alphabetically.

Some of these wines are inexpensive and/or widely available. Others couldn’t be procured even if you had a genie and three wishes.

Jerry Lohr is a farmer, descended from a family of farmers. That’s one of the first things the burly, affable man will tell you, and throughout a long dinner table conversation about his life, his career and his winery, J. Lohr – which has grown rapidly in 30 years to become one of the largest in California – Lohr returns to that theme again and again. “I’m a farmer, not a winemaker. This man is one of my winemakers, and a very, very good one,” he said, pointing to Steve Peck, who had joined me and Lohr for lunch at his tasting room east of Paso Robles; Peck has overseen red wine production at J. Lohr since 2007.

Lohr’s skills, as well as his modesty, can perhaps be explained by his rural Midwestern roots. His South Dakota clan has farmed the prairie for generations. His Irish ancestors arrived in the 1880s; the Swedish side came a little later. “I learned that farming is hard. There are no shortcuts,” Lohr said of his days helping work the fields as a kid.

At last weekend’s Wine & Food Festival in Newport Beach, some sommeliers and other professionals in the wine industry said that the drought had brought unexpected benefits to California’s wine regions.

One common opinion is that with the right varietals, dry (or nearly dry) farming is possible. Jerry Lohr, Justin Smith and other Central Coast winemakers are famously stingy with water. The general consensus about the 2013 and ’14 has been that wise water management, coupled with perfect weather for grapes, have resulted in excellent vintages for many California winemakers, with grapes of remarkable concentration.

But make no mistake — the drought, if it continues, will profoundly affect the wine industry (and, of course, other forms of agriculture, not to mention future development). The situation is especially dire on the Central Coast, where agriculture east of Paso Robles depends on the area’s natural aquifer. Consider this sobering news in the San Luis Obispo Tribune:

A new analysis of the Paso Robles groundwater basin shows that aquifer levels near Paso Robles will drop an additional 70 feet if pumping continues unabated over the next 30 years.

The new hydrological analysis commissioned by the San Luis Obispo County Department of Public Works updates the calculations of how much water was pumped from the basin from 1981 to 2011 and estimates how much will be pumped from 2012 to 2040 under growth and no-growth scenarios.

The no-growth scenario assumes no new pumping from the basin. The growth scenario assumes a 1 percent increase in vineyard, municipal, rural domestic and small commercial pumping.

County supervisors disagree on the severity of the problem but said this week that management of the basin to prevent over-pumping is needed.

“It suggests that if we don’t do something significantly different, there will be very serious problems going forward,” said Supervisor Bruce Gibson, chairman of the board. “Right now we have to deal with the stark reality that we have a basin that is in serious decline.”

I’ve been impressed as heck by the Bordeaux blends I’ve tasted recently in Paso Robles. I mentioned in a previous blog post that 2013 is shaping up to be a stellar year. While most of the reds from that vintage haven’t been released yet, here’s a rundown of some excellent wines I’ve sampled over the last month or so during my visits to the Central Coast. As a vintage, 2012 is no slouch either.

Chateau Margene 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon: ($60): Winemaker Michael Mooney’s Cabernets are sophisticated, elegant and balanced. His 2012 Cabernet is suffused with blueberries, blackcurrant and a hint of red cedar on the nose. The long finish is marked by pleasant, soft-shouldered tannins that suggest age-worthiness. This wine is a blend of five different vineyards and benefits from Mooney’s deep knowledge of Paso’s soils and microclimates. 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot.

Paso Robles – I’m in my favorite Californian wine region for the third visit in a month, this time to cover the CABS of Distinction trade and media get-together.

It’s been a fantastic month of winery visits and interviews. I got to tour the spectacular new cave at Saxum with its legendary owner-winemaker, Justin Smith. I had a long lunch with Jerry Lohr and his red wine guru, Steve Peck. I poked around Epoch with owner Bill Armstrong, who is meticulously restoring the 19th-century York Mountain winery, stone by careful stone. I toured Niner’s state-of-the-art facilities with Andy Niner (the son of owner-founder Dick Niner, one of the first deep-pockets outsiders to swoop into Paso), who has assembled a great team of winemakers and vastly improved his winery’s formerly so-so product, IMHO.

But the most exciting news out of Paso is the 2013 vintage. For reds, and Bordeaux varietals in particular, this could be a year to remember – the Central Coast’s version of 1982 for Bordeaux.

For those of you who geek out on the science side, the phenolic numbers are considered phenomenal. (Phenolics are the hundreds of chemical compounds found in grape seeds, stems and skins that affect the taste, color and mouthfeel of wine.) At a seminar on phenolics last Wednesday, all phenolic measurements showed that 2013 was a standout compared to other recent years.

But this is what really got my attention: even the veteran winemakers are using superlatives.

“I’ve never seen a year like 2013,” said Michael Mooney, who founded Chateau Margene and has been producing high-quality Bordeaux wines since the ’97 vintage. “The weather was as perfect as you could hope for – no freezes in the spring, no late temperature spikes in the fall, no unexpected rain but just enough precipitation.”

I remember winemakers were thanking their lucky stars two years ago that they weren’t getting a repeat of 2011, a disastrous year for Central Coast wineries that was cursed with all manner of nastiness, including a disastrous April freeze.

My tasting experiences confirmed the winemakers’ rosy reports. Mooney’s 2013 reds were beautifully balanced and structured, and his intelligent use of new technologies and practices with oak barrels has added intriguing subtlety to his wines. Lohr’s extensive Cabernet Sauvignon line-up is similarly strong for the ’13 vintage. There’s a huge amount of punch to the 2013s, and I predict they’ll age well.

Paso, which produces a lot more Bordeaux than Rhone grapes, is ideal Cab country. Among its best the flavor profile is superior, with less assertive tannins, more luscious fruit and greater complexity than many Napa Cabs with bigger price tags. In terms of soil, climate, meteorological consistency, hang time and diurnal swing, parts of Paso are perfect for Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Merlot and other Bordeaux varietals. That’s what got Dr. Stanley Hoffman and other pioneers interested in the place back in the 1960s and ’70s, long before the Zinfandel and Rhone crazes swept through.

I’ll give you a more complete report when I return to town, including a rundown of the 11 new sub-appellations and what they might mean for the consumer.